Pumpkin Soup

Using the base recipe from Dr. Oz that I found on Pinterest, I then made the soup "my own".

I thawed out the pumpkin purée I did earlier this fall and put it in my stockpot.
 

(Please, compliment me on my fabulous photography skills today.  I know you are in awe.)  

I heated up the puree with the chicken stock that the base recipe calls for.  I searched online and decided I liked the 1 lb roasted pumpkin = 1 cup puree so that's what I did.  (I doubled this recipe.)

While the onions and garlic roasted  in the oven, I added 2 teaspoons of tumeric and a overflowing tablespoon of honey to the pumpkin mixture.  

Once the onions and garlic are roasted, puree them in a blender and then add them to your pumpkin mixture!  I added a couple cups of puree to the blender to make it easier to blend it all up.  By covering the blender with a cloth, you can prevent the lid of the blender from popping off like a rocket and splattering hot goo all over you and your kitchen!  I'm a fast learner; as in, I've only done that ONCE! 

Last but NOT LEAST, add a few dashes of hot sauce to the whole pot.  Our "go-to" is Tapatio.

Enjoy!

This is very affordable pot of soup:
Pumpkin Puree figures out to: 6 cups puree at .04/ounce = $1.92
Onions = free from the side of the road
Garlic = not sure have it on hand
Tapatio = the whole bottle cost .51 so hardly anything at all
Tumeric = not sure because I have it on hand.

I love that everything I used in this soup I have and in 30 minutes total, I have a delicious pot of soup that is not only good for our bodies but for our budget; as well.   

Organic Pumpkin Puree

Our wonderful local market has organic pumpkins for sale right now at a great price!  .29/lb to be exact.  I bought two basketball sized pumpkins and brought them home to make some puree. 

After I baked them until they were fork tender (removing the seeds and cleaning off the stringy stuff, cut in two), I used a spoon to remove the skin and used the food processor to puree it up.

From these two pumpkins, I got 14 cups of puree.  I put 2 cups in each baggy and here is my price breakdown:

16 oz baggy versus 15 oz of organic canned pumpkin.
$5 got me both pumpkins!
With 14 cups I figure that out to be 112 ounces of puree.  Divide $5/112 and I come up with .04 per ounce.  Each baggy is worth .64!  Compare that to store bought organic pumpkin puree (on sale right now) at $1.85 per can comes out to .12/ounce! 

I'm no mathematician but I do believe I just tripled my money!  WHOO HOO!

Steve's Salsa

I have tried salsa recipes for years. It seems like I never have good luck canning them.  One of my friends shared this recipe and it gets rave reviews!

Steve's Salsa

24 Large tomatoes (Leave the skins on them and cut the tomatoes into at least quarters, if not smaller, for what size you want your "chunks" to be.  I had little guys so I went by 24 cups, thinking one large tomato diced equals about a cup.)

6-12 Jalapeno peppers (Six for mild and remove the seeds, I used six and left the seeds in going for a "medium", use 12 for hot.)

6 Medium onions (I used two Gargantuan ones!) 

3 large green peppers (I used two large ones because green peppers aren't my favorite.)

3 cloves garlic (I used 4 because while I don't love green peppers, I do love garlic.)

1 cup Vinegar 

1/3 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons salt

3 Tablespoons oregano

3 Tablespoons cumin

Once the tomatoes were diced, I got out the food processor and let it do the chopping for me.  In went the jalapenos, onions, peppers & garlic.  Of course, this was done in batches...

To the chopped ingredients, I added the vinegar, sugar, salt, oregano & cumin.  I stirred that up very well then I added all of the diced tomatoes; after I drained 1 1/2 cups of juice off them.  (I let them sit for a while as I visited with a friend and when I came back there was quite a bit of liquid. This is how much easily poured off.)

 

Liquid drained off:

Stir it all up!

From there I filled the pint jars, put the lids on them as one does when canning, set them in the water-bath filled with cold water.  (Just enough water so it covers the tops of all the jars.). 

I turned the burner on, brought it to a hard boil, set the timer for 20 minutes, and that batch is complete!

 

This made 13 pints of salsa.

Cost analysis:

Tomatoes - from my garden, priceless, but for the sake of a figure, we'll say FREE
Jalapenos - again, from my garden
ORGANIC Green Peppers, 3/$1 so, .66 (clearance at local market!)
garlic - .59
The vinegar, sugar*, salt, cumin* & oregano* are things I just have on hand.
Cost of lids: $1.86/box

Total out-of-pocket expense: $3.11 for 13 pints of salsa.  That's 23 cents per pint of NON GMO, home-grown, as good as it gets salsa!!!

*organic ingredients

Salsa Verde - Thanks Pinterest!

I was gifted Canning for a New Generation and have drooled over what to make out of it.  I was wasting time on Pinterest the other day and came across a salsa verde recipe that looked delicious.  Kept reading and saw that Ladyface Blog had gotten her yummy recipe from none other than the cookbook I have on my own shelf! 

Just in time, I got 10 pounds of organic tomatillos ordered for $14.00.  I had my onions and garlic on hand; as well as our jalapenos and serano peppers in the garden.  I had organic lime juice on hand but checked and it's $4.25 for 16 oz and I used a good 12 ounces of it. 

Looks like I have around $20 of cash invested in this recipe plus on hand stuff.  I know there is a dollar amount to that but I don't feel like figuring out how much my three onions cost.  To figure my labor on the garden produce - well, that's priceless so we better stick with cash.

I tripled the recipe and should have gotten 12 pints.  I got 10 1/2.  I only canned 10 pints because we're going to eat this heavenly goodness tonight; all half-pint of it!

I'm no math geek but I do believe that comes out to $2 a pint.  Other organic salsa sells for $4 - $4.25 for 16 oz.  Again, I'm no genius but I do believe I just cut the price in half!  Plus, I know exactly what went in our salsa!  I'm so excited!!!  The flavor is unbelievable and I can't wait to eat more tonight - that isn't off the spoon. 

Just another post that pinterest is always wasted if it eventually leads to action.  I just need to remind my husband of this everytime we open a jar!

"Muffin Pan Eggs"

If any of you follow me on Pinterest, you will see that I spent "a little bit of time" looking at breakfast yesterday.  That led me to actually try making something versus just "pinning" it.

So, here's my experience on eggs in a muffin pan.

Using a dozen eggs, cream, zucchini, ham, garlic, pinch of salt and nice amount of pepper;

throw everything in the mixer:

Ham and half my zucchini:

Oil my pan:

everything all mixed up:

1/4 cup was the perfect amount to go in my pan!

I had some egg goo leftover so I got out my new egg cooker from Pampered Chef:

 

3/4 cup was left so this batch makes 15 muffins:

Sprinkle tops with cheese; taking care to discard any green or fuzzy pieces:

2.5 minutes in the microwave and this bad boy was done!

28 minutes at 350 degrees plus 2 minutes at broil got these beauties just how I wanted them.
I left the rack in the middle and just turned the oven to broil.  It provided the browning I wanted without the stone being too close to the coils.  Again, only two minutes!

Save the remaining two cups of zucchini for another meal:

We enjoyed a delicious brunch on the balcony. 

They would have eaten more, I think!

Lesson - let the muffins sit for a few minutes before removing them from the pan.  They came out much easier when we came back for seconds than when I rushed them out:

Simply, put, these were a hit and they can't wait for me to make them again!  WHOO HOO! 

Not all time is wasted on pinterest!

A Place at the Table

We're on the final week of our 40 day fast.  It's been challenging, exciting, boring (food wise) and hard.  Yes, I know challenging and hard mean basically the same thing but it deserves to be listed twice.  Oh, throw in frustrating.  Here I am at the beginning of this journey.  I wrote a guest post for another site and discussed my journey as it relates to my Sunday School class that is on this same journey with me. 

My hubby and I fasted by eating what our sponsored children might eat... so we had a lot of soup.  We cut out all sweets, yummy coffee drinks, Dr. Pepper, chocolate (again, separate listing than lumped in with sweets) and anything else that would make our mouths water. 

Our 15 year old daughter fasted from her iPod/CD player/radio and sweets.

The boys (8 and 5) fasted from their remote controlled cars that were "new" to them when we started this journey.

My budget for food is $400/month.  We spent $150 total and that included a few meals out where we stuck to the foods we could eat; namely potatoes, rice or some sort of veggie soup on the menu.  If we only count the food budget line, we will donate $250 to Compassion International for their Water for Life.  That buys 3 filters.  Three families who will soon have access to clean and safe drinking water.  They'll receive education for improving hygiene and sanitation and they know to share their water filter with their neighbors so more people are impacted.  Best of all, they know that it is Jesus who is providing the water. 

The hardest thing for me during this fast has been eating the same things for lunch and dinner day in-day out.  I saved a lot of money making a large pot of soup and then we ate on it for several days.  This was good because it saved money but it made it especially hard for me since I was the only one home during the day who ate it for lunch; as well. 

One of the most rewarding thing has been whenever I started to get a spirit of discontentment, the Lord reminded me of Roosbell in Ecuador and Javier in Mexico and just that quick, it put things in perspective. 

The other rewarding times have been watching our children "get it."  To hear our 5 year old say, "Roosbell and Javier don't have that." in response to an off-hand statement, "Everyone has one of those."  As well as our 15 year old daughter asking if we could eat "like this" two weeks of the month and how many more children could we sponsor with the money saved.  W O W.

There have been a few times during this fast that one of the kids has said something that I am just blown away with.  The daily devotion time that has brought us together as a family has been a major bonus. 

I look forward to doing this again come spring, leading up to the Crucifixion of my Lord.  If you are looking for something to change a perspective (yours, children, both) this is a humbling way to journey together.  A Place at the Table by Chris Seay is available for sale many places.  I highly recommend it. 

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Ebay

Fall Colors

Each fall my DH and I get away to beautiful Hood River, Oregon where we meet with a bunch of other crazy youth pastors for the weekend.  It's a wonderful time and we have decided to piggy back on the trip and make it a mini vacation for just the two of us. 

So, yesterday morning, we left home and took our time getting here.  We stopped in The Dalles and visited an awesome museum.  From there, we took the scenic (old) hwy 30 and saw God's gorgeous fall colors up close and personal! 

I hope they bless you like they are us:

We stayed the night in the Hood River Hotel in downtown.  We love old buildings and this fit.  We were very thankful that we had a modern portable heater to "accompany" the steam furnace since it did not come on once and the metal is cold to touch.  The breakfast here is delicious; as were our potato tacos last night.  Yummy!

Caldo de pollo

We're seeing how much money we can save this month on our food/grocery bill so soups are on the menu!  Last week, I made Locro de papas, a recipe from Ecuador and we ate it Wed, Thu & Sat nights.  Friday my parents had us over for delicious ham & beans.  This week we are having a simple caldo.  Caldo, in my experience, can be made with whichever meat you want so the title would be "caldo de pollo" if using chicken, "caldo de rez" if using beef.  One major difference in this soup is whole pieces of chicken are used; i.e. "bone-in."  Here is what I used and my costs:

In my 24 QUART stock pot (yes, it is HUGE) I added:

~ 5 lbs of "whole" chicken quarters (the thigh and leg are still connected).  Cost: $2.50
~ 5 lbs potatoes quartered (organic) Cost: $2.50
~ 2 lbs carrots chopped large (organic) $1.25
1 bunch celery, chopped large (organic) Cost: $.25
2 whole onions, chopped Cost: Free from gleaning onion field near-by.
2 orange tomatoes, chopped large Cost: Free garden produce, donated plants so time only
Filled pot with water
Added dash of salt, some black pepper and 3 cloves garlic

Total cost: $6.50
Fed ~ 35-40 people; which makes the cost per person: 35 people = $.19/person and 40 people = .16/person. 

An option for those who don't want to eat it every day for a week would be to freeze it for future meals "on-the-go."  We are eating it often for specific purposes I will share with you later.

Pizza in La Cruz Mexico

The other night us adults left our children home alone.  We were in the clear since we went and ordered pizza for them, paid for it and had it delivered to the house.  It was pouring down rain and the delivery boy road the scooter!  The kids were glad we left them some money to tip him as they felt very sorry for him.

They bragged the pizza up so much - yes, the four of them ate an entire extra large pizza, that we decided to dine in tonight.

Saul, the owner, started building his business, Falconi Pizzas, a year ago.  As with most entrepreaneurs, he poured everything he had into it.  Tomorrow he finds out if he has been approved for a license to sell alcohol.  While of no consequence to us since we don't drink, it will make a huge impact on his business success.

Grandad and DH noticed the steel frame under the roof and found out that Saul and his brother did it themselves!  They did a good job.  He lives in one section and his brother and his family live in another.  He doesn't have many tables for dining in and was thankful we called ahead to make sure he was open today.  We gave him an hour and he was more than ready for us when we got there.  The tables were pushed together and set of the 8 of us.

He keeps his menu simple - pizza and soda.  Tonight, he had salad and so some of us had one.

It had a balsamic dressing and it was delicious! 

Three types of pizza that didn't disappoint.  It is very affordable.  The Pepperoni and Hawaiian pizza (half-half) is $165 MX ($12 US) and the Four Meat (ham, salomi, bacon and italian sausage) is $195 MX ($14US).  These two pizzas fed the 8 of us and we were plenty full. 

 It may look greasy in the photo but they were not greasy at all!  The crust is thin and he makes it from scratch; same with his sauce.

 He also tried out some crepes on us!  Yummy!

 Before we left, we asked if we could pray with him.  He agreed and we joined hands and prayed for God's blessing on him, his business and his family.  It was a great evening meal.

If you are ever in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle have some Falconi Pizza.  You won't be disappointed... not in the food; nor the service nor the price.  The kids are already saying they'd eat here again this trip! 

Thanks, Saul!  Hope we make it back to La Cruz and Falconi's someday for some great pizza.

Eating Out

One of the many things I am learning on this wellness journey, is that the more prepared I am the more I can enjoy myself.  There is freedom in knowing where the fence is that keeps me safe, so to speak.

Tonight, we are making an evening of an event that is happening in THE city (about 30 miles away).  My parents, DH and I are going out to eat before the event; which is a dessert event (scary).

In order for me to enjoy myself at supper, I pick out what I am going to order ahead of time.  I put it all in sparkpeople and then I adjust as needed to make it so I can have a grand time without starving myself all day; making for a cranky moma.

Breakfast - workout bar & coffee
Lunch - Protein/Crave Blocker Shake
Snack - 1/2 cup greek yogurt and 1 t honey
Supper:
6 oz Sirloin Steak
Baked Potato with cheese, chives and sour cream
House Salad with my own dressing (no croutons)
AND 1/6 of a bloomin onion!!!

These still leaves me 300 calories to have a few bites of dessert but by the time I get there, I'll be so full from the awesome supper that I won't care that I can't have much dessert.  I'm more of a steak and potato kind of gal, anyway. 

So, there you have it.  I get to order and eat without worry that I am blowing my day.  Today is a good day!  YAY!

Shopping Day

I went shopping today and stocked up on some good healthy food for me.  Take a look:

spinach and carrots - yum

My new favorite yogurt - it's wonderful with a teaspoon of our Montana honey in it or with:

1/4 cup granola with a serving of these yummy berries:

I love bread so am excited to use these for sandwiches and buns. 

Got me some pita bread, too. 

We love our salsa...

A new dressing/marinade that I can't wait to try!

I have been using the sprouted bean trip and quinoa (keenwa) for a while now and found a few new recipes to use them in so I'm excited. 

I can't wait to try this dip as a spread instead of mayo.  It looks so good!

Some hummus to go with my carrots.  The only catch with this is I have to watch the serving size.

Alaskan Salmon Burger packs 20 grams of protein!  WHOO HOO! 

To make sure I don't deny myself sweets, I picked up these babies today.  100 calories and
I can have my dessert and eat it too! 

I also got chicken breasts, veggie chips, black pepper & salt mini rice crackers and tuna. 

Remember, I am tracking calories, carbs, protein and fat.  Here are my calorie goals:

Breakfast = my access bar of 120 calories

Lunch = 300 calories of either a) yogurt, granola & berries; b) tuna sandwich & carrots or c) one of my protien/crave blocker shakes

Afternoon snack = cheese stick or carrots (60 calories) & bar (120)

Dinner = 600 calories

Late Night Snack = 300 calories

This brings me to ~ 1500 calories; which is just under my 1550 max and where I need to be since I am working out 5 days a week. 

Now, I just have to cook!